


Phil Coulson and Pepper Potts are Supernannies

by Spaceykacey



Category: Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Babysitting, Deaf Clint Barton, Gen, Kid Fic, Mini-avengers, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Sad and Happy, Superheroes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-12
Updated: 2015-05-04
Packaged: 2018-02-25 02:21:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 20,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2605064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spaceykacey/pseuds/Spaceykacey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When an experiment goes wrong, all six Avengers are reverted to themselves as children. Injuries, laughs, charades, and nap-times ensue. I know, another mini-Avengers story. I couldn't help myself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this posted on another website for a while now. I decided to post it here as well. Chapters will go up quickly, until I reach the end of what I already have written. After that, no promises ;)

Phil Coulson was exhausted. He and Pepper had spent the morning dealing with six kids, all under the age of 7. Stark had really screwed up this time. An accident in the lab had turned the Avengers into children, and he was babysitting.

Each child maintained their unique personalities, but had no knowledge of their previous lives. Hopefully, when the effects reversed, they would regain those memories. Right now, Phil and Pepper were stuck with six rambunctious kids. Being an avid watcher of Supernanny was starting to pay off. He had already identified the corner by the staircase as the time out step, and he had already placed three of the kids there several times each. Those three kids, as Phil would have guessed, were Tony, Thor, and Clint. Tony was rebellious to the core, even as a six year old. Thor caused trouble constantly, but was immediately remorseful when scolded, his big blue eyes welling up with tears. Clint was mischievous, and ignored anyone who tried to reprimand him. He would simply stare, stick his tongue out, and scamper off.

Natasha, Steve, and Bruce were all fairly well behaved. Natasha had a rebellious streak, but she was also a bit of a suck-up who enjoyed tattling on the other kids. Steve and Bruce were the most compliant as adults, and as kids it was no different. When Phil was dragging kids to and from the time out corner, they just continued working on whatever they were working on quietly, whereas Natasha snickered and pointed.

The current predicament was getting lunch on the table with the kids getting into everything. Pepper was getting frozen chicken nuggets out of the freezer while carrying Natasha on her hip. Natasha was the youngest and smallest of the avengers, judging by appearance and ability. Pepper would peg her at about four years old. Steve and Clint were probably 5, and Bruce, Tony, and Thor were just a little more advanced, so probably 6. Steve and Tony were standing tugging at Natasha's feet, trying to get her attention to show her the tower they built with Legos. She was successfully ignoring them. Phil walked in with a flailing Clint under his right arm.

"Boys, leave the girls alone. And go clean up your Legos," he said, keeping his tone even and controlled just like she did in Supernanny. They did as he said, begrudgingly. Pepper glanced at Phil, smiling her thanks. Noticing Clint, she shook her head. The struggling Clint was silent, as he had been ever since they were changed into children. At the age they suspected Clint was, he should be speaking in full and even complex sentences. However, he remained silent. Silent, but not any less troublesome than the other children.

"What did he do now?" she asked, going back to getting lunch ready. Phil went on to explain how the young archer had gotten on top of the entertainment center and was throwing toys at anyone walking by. One of the unlucky recipients of these missiles was none other than Nick Fury. When Phil mentioned Fury's name, Pepper bit her lip nervously. "Was he pissed?" Phil nodded as Fury walked into the kitchen, rubbing his head.

Seeing Fury, Clint stopped his squirming. Phil took that opportunity to put him down. He turned to talk to his boss and they walked into the other room. Clint walked over to the counter where Pepper was pouring herself a cup of coffee with Natasha still on her hip. She turned to put something back in the freezer, and as she slid the nuggets in, she heard a crash and a scream. She turned to see Clint on the floor with a spilt coffee pot. She set Natasha down and rushed over to the crying boy.

Clint was trying to calm himself down, but it wasn't successful. He had pulled the coffee pot down on himself and the hot coffee had spilt down onto his feet. Pepper scooped him up, took a very concerned looking Natasha by the hand, and went into the living room. Fury and Phil had heard the commotion, and when they took in the sight, they rushed forward. "What the hell happened?" Fury asked in his usual harsh tone. Pepper ignored him and put the still screaming Clint down onto the couch. She and Phil worked to roll his Spiderman pajama bottoms up. Fury surprised them both by kneeling down and taking the poor boys socks off. The pajamas were sort of a joke. Phil had sent on of his S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to Walmart for kid clothes right after the change happened, and she had come back with a large selection of superhero pajamas. The kids all seemed to like them, though.

The other children had all been silenced by the screaming and now stood in their respective doorways unsure of what was going on. Natasha had gone to stand by Thor and Bruce, and Tony and Steve were standing frozen in another doorway, still holding Legos in their hands.

"We need to get his feet under cool water," Phil said, his S.H.I.E.L.D. training coming to the surface. He picked up the injured boy and walked down a hallway to the bathroom. Closing the toilet lid and sitting down, he leaned forward and turned the water on. When the temperature of the water felt cool enough, he sat Clint on the edge of the tub and grabbed the removable showerhead and gently ran the water down Clint's shins and onto his blotchy red feet. Initially, Clint had squirmed even more at the sensation, but eventually stopped as the pain began to cease.

Pepper came in and sat on the tub next to the now silent boy and examined his feet. Luckily, the burns really didn't look too bad. Neosporin and some clean, soft socks and he would be okay. Coulson left Pepper to patch Clint up while he and Fury went to talk in the other room. Unfortunately, there were listening ears everywhere. They decided to speak obscurely in the presence of the five other Avengers rather than leave them unsupervised. Steve climbed up onto Phil's lap and rested his head on his chest. Tony and Bruce were still playing with their Legos, but were quickly losing steam. Natasha slowly walked up to Fury, looked up at him, and smiled. She wasn't scared of him one bit. He picked her up and put her on his knee and her eyelids began to droop. It was getting close to nap-time for the little Avengers.

Phil noticed the telltale signs of sleepiness. "What do you guys say we put in a movie and make some beds on the couch?" When several of the children began whining about not being tired, he sighed. "You don't have to sleep. Just lay down and watch the movie." That quelled the uprising. As Phil was saying this, Pepper had walked in carrying Clint. She looked concerned about something, but she smiled at the little Avengers nonetheless. She walked to the big and fluffy sectional sofa and snuggled Clint down into the corner, mindful of his sore feet. Phil and Fury led the rest of the children to the couch. They each picked their spots; Clint still curled up in the corner, Natasha and Tony laid out on either side of him, Thor next to Natasha, and Steve and Bruce sprawled out on the oversized ottoman.

"Nick, could you get a movie started?" Pepper asked. "Phil and I will gather up some blankets and pillows." With a nod from Fury, they went in search of all the bedding they could find. Pepper led the way to her and Tony's level of the tower where she knew there would be some spare bedding. Phil knew Pepper well enough to know something was bothering her. He looked at her and raised his eyebrows. "I don't think Clint can hear. At least not very well," she answered his silent question.

"That would explain why he hasn't spoken yet," Phil said, his eyebrows creasing.

"He looks at you when you're speaking, and I thought he was just ignoring me when I told him to do something, but maybe he can't even hear us," Pepper continued. "When he was with all the other children, it never occurred to me, but when I was alone with him, I noticed that he didn't respond to sounds, just movement". Phil nodded as the exited the elevator.

"I can't believe I didn't make this connection earlier. There was just so much going on. Clint wears state-of-the-art hearing aids, he has since joining S.H.I.E.L.D. He lost his hearing when he was a toddler; I don't know the whole story," Phil explained, mentally kicking himself for not putting two and two together. The two gathered up armloads of bedding and got back in the elevator.

"What should we do?" Pepper asked, breaking the silence.

Phil smiled. "Not a clue. I guess we just carry on as usual and pray someone figures out how to turn them back quickly." They walked out of the elevator and into the living room. Fury had started The Lion King, and several of the children were already asleep. They went to work tucking blankets around all six of them, and within ten minutes, all six mini-superheroes were sleeping soundly.


	2. Chapter 2

Thor was the first to wake up from his nap. When he started stretching, he accidently kicked Natasha in the head, waking her from her dreams. Without even a pause, she hit back, lunging at Thor and pulling his blond hair. This commotion woke the rest of the children, with the exception of Tony. Tony was still snoring lightly, until Bruce jumped on him to wake him up. Feeling refreshed from the nap, Bruce was ready to start building the Lego towers with Tony again, whether Tony felt like it or not.

Fury had left shortly after the kids fell asleep, and now Pepper and Phil were alone with them again. Phil stepped in before Natasha actually did serious damage to the young god, who was now crying and trying to get away. For being the youngest in the group, Natasha could defend herself and then some. Phil easily picked her up off of Thor. "Put me down!" she squealed, kicking her legs. Thor quickly composed himself. Tony and Bruce were up and walking over to the Legos in the adjoining room, talking animatedly about what they would build next, while Steve crawled off of the couch, not bothering to stand up. He didn't look any more rested than before the nap, and he looked a little bit pale.

Pepper went into mom-mode once again and knelt down by where he had plopped down on the carpet. She felt his forehead, which was a little clammy, but otherwise normal. "Are you feeling okay, Steven?" she asked, catching his gaze. He nodded, stood up, and walked over to the other boys. For being a super-soldier as an adult, as a child, he was sort of fragile. From reading his file over Tony's shoulder, she remembered that he had been a sort of a weak kid before he was changed into the Captain America they knew and loved. It made sense that he would go back, just as Clint seemed to have reverted, to childhood weaknesses.

Clint must have forgotten about his injured feet, because he tried to kick the blankets off of himself, immediately whimpering as his blistered feet made themselves known. He huffed and pulled the blankets off with his hands instead, and proceeded to crawl to the edge of the couch. He paused here, unsure of his next move. There was no way he would be confined to the couch, and he had to figure out how to make it across the room without his feet touching the ground. Phil saw the contemplation etched on Clint's face and walked over to him. He started to say something to the young archer before catching himself. Instead, he caught Clint's gaze and then picked him up. He walked to where the boys were playing with the Legos still and set the agent down.

Thor and Natasha had made up, and were now 'helping' Pepper fold up the blankets. In all honesty, they were doing more harm than good, but their intentions were innocent. Steve, being the people-pleaser that he was, got up and ran over to help fold up the blankets. They ended up just trying to pull the blankets out of each other's hands, arguing over who was the better helper. Steve, who had been coughing lightly all day, started wheezing with the effort of taking the blanket from Thor. By the time Pepper intervened, he was clearly having trouble breathing. His eyes were wide, and he fell to the ground heavily, trying to get a breath. Pepper sent Thor and Natasha over to where Phil was playing with the other kids and sat down by Steve.

She sat him up and started rubbing his back in small circles. She was speaking soft assurances to him, while signaling Phil to come over. Coulson put his Legos down and walked over. "I think he's having an asthma attack," Pepper whispered to Phil, still rubbing Steve's trembling back. Phil nodded and pulled out his cell phone.

He called Maria Hill, and instructed her grab a S.H.I.E.L.D. medic and come to Stark Tower. Without even waiting for her answer, he hung up the phone. Luckily, the asthma attack hadn't gotten to the point where his fingertips were blue, but this wasn't something they could mess around with. After the events in Manhattan, S.H.I.E.L.D. had set up a mini-base two blocks from Stark Tower. Tony had been incredibly annoyed at this, claiming that they were only doing that to babysit him, and that wasn't completely untrue. With all of the Avengers residing at least part time in Stark Tower, Fury figured it wouldn't be a terrible idea to have a base nearby.

While they waited for Agent Hill to arrive, Pepper continued to keep Steve comfortable. He wanted to get up and play, because the other five Avengers were excitedly starting a game of hide-and-go-seek. Clint had once again tried to stand up before squeaking and hitting the floor again. He had yet to speak a word, and now that they were looking for it, Pepper and Phil began to notice many more things that pointed to Clint being at least partially deaf. Phil rolled his eyes, walked over to the annoyed archer and scooped him up again. Much to Clint's chagrin, he was going to have to sit this one out. Phil dropped him off with Pepper and Steve and went to oversee the game. Clint flopped down dramatically, started staring at the ceiling and tossing his head from side to side.

When Maria and the medic arrived, they came straight in, having been given instructions from Phil. Pepper smiled at them despite the current situation. Maria went to check in with Coulson, and the medic knelt in front of Steve, who had yet to regain his even breathing. The medic, Dave, had been briefed on the ride over, so he understood the situation. He pulled out an inhaler and a portable oxygen tank. He gave Steve two puffs with the inhaler and placed the mask over Steve's mouth and nose. He rolled his eyes, but left the mask in place. Pepper propped him up with a pillow against the ottoman and scooted over to where Clint was army crawling away. She tapped him on the shoulder and he froze, slowly turning to look at her, knowing he was caught. She pulled him back to the medic and explained to him what had happened with the coffee.

The medic smiled at the squirming Clint. He held out his hand saying, "My name is Dave. What's your name?" he asked. Clint looked at his hand, but ignored it. "Don't leave me hanging, buddy!" Still nothing. Pepper pursed her lips.

"I think he may not be hearing us," she explained. "He lost his hearing as a toddler, well, the first time he was a toddler. When he was turned into a kid, he must have gone back to before he could hear as well." Dave nodded. Working as a medic at S.H.I.E.L.D. was never dull. Steve was starting to breathe easier, so he turned his full attention to Clint.

"Can you try to keep his attention for a minute? I'm going to get out of his line of sight and make some noise to see if he reacts," Dave said. Pepper nodded and turned Clint to look at her. She got her cell phone out and handed it to Clint, who looked at it with wide eyes. He immediately began playing with it. Dave got his cell phone out as well and pushed some buttons. He opened what seemed to be a noisemaker app and held the phone behind the still focused Clint's head. He pushed a button and a soft beeping started. When he got no reaction, he adjusted the pitch and volume, as well as switching ears a several times. After a couple tries, Clint finally turned his head, smiling. It was the first genuine smile Pepper had seen from Clint all day. His previous smiles had been mischievous, and more smirks than actual smiles.

This could very well have been the first thing Clint had heard all day, because the pitch and volume were louder and higher than anything else would have reached in normal human interaction. Dave smiled and crawled back around in front of Clint. He looked at him and smiled even bigger, before going back to playing with Pepper's phone. Pepper glanced at the screen, and realized Clint had called a random number. She snatched the phone, uttered a quick apology to whoever was on the other line, and hung up. Clint started pouting and tried to crawl away. Pepper sighed and pulled him back, setting him on her lap so Dave could look at his feet.

Clint was not at all pleased with this, though. His feet were still sore, and the last thing he wanted was someone poking at them. He began squirming with renewed vigor, and Pepper had to wrap her arms around him and hold down his legs with one of hers. Dave hurried with his inspection while Clint was fairly still and stuck in this human pretzel. When he started taking his socks off, Clint screamed. They had stuck in places to his blistered feet, and Pepper cringed in sympathy. She should have checked them earlier and realized that she should leave them uncovered. All she could do now was try to soothe the crying boy who couldn't hear her. Dave worked as gently as he could, and finally the socks were off. Pepper had tears in her eyes, blaming herself for Clint's pain. Dave looked up at her and smiled reassuringly.

"You did the right thing," he said. "You kept his feet clean, and the burns don't actually look terrible. And besides, kids are resilient. See, he's fine now." He gestured to Clint, who was now making faces at Steve. Pepper nodded, but she suddenly felt like she assumed new mothers sometimes felt, unprepared and terrified. When Clint had been crying, Steve took off the oxygen mask and scooted closer to him. He didn't like seeing other people sad, so he started making faces at Clint to cheer him up. Pepper quickly wiped away her own tears and smiled at Steve.

"Thank you, Steven. You made Clint stop crying! You're such a big helper," she said, ruffling his hair. His breathing was back to normal. He sat there with Clint until Dave had finished examining and treating his burned feet. Dave finished his work and gave Pepper instructions to leave the feet uncovered, but to put socks back on when he went to bed, so that he would irritate them in his sleep. She nodded and leaned back heavily against the ottoman. Clint lay back against her, even though now he was free to escape if he had wanted and Steve scooted next to her, leaning against her shoulder. Dave stood up and offered to make Pepper some tea. She accepted his offer and he walked away into the kitchen. She leaned over and rested her head on top of Steve's head, making him giggle. The other kids were off with Phil and Maria still, and Pepper took this moment as the calm before the next inevitable storm.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the kudos and comments! :) hope you like this chapter.

"Do you want to help me with dinner?" Pepper asked Steve. He had almost fallen asleep again, but she wanted him to be able to sleep that night, so decided to keep him up a while longer.

"Yes! Can we have hot dogs?" Steve had already stood up. "And ketchup?" Pepper nodded, standing up. She picked Clint up and they went into the kitchen. Dave handed her the cup of tea and took his leave, offering to come back if (or when) anything else happened. She set Clint at the table and wracked her brain for a way to keep him at the table. She grabbed some unimportant looking papers and some crayons that were laying around and set them in front of Clint who in turn looked at them, up at Pepper, and back to the paper. He didn't look amused. Steve, who loved coloring, sat down next to Clint and started coloring. Every once in a while, he would hand Clint a crayon, coaxing him silently into coloring with him.

Pepper watched them for a while, impressed at the patience with which Steve tried to get Clint to play along. She also noticed that Clint was somewhat unsure of what to do with the crayons. He would make lines that stretched across the page and onto the table, but the lines rarely touched or crossed. Steve was busy drawing people and animals and houses, but Clint's was more focused on the wrappers on the crayons than actually using them. Pepper left them to their work and went to the fridge. Unfortunately, hot dogs were not something frequently purchased at Stark Tower. "Hey Steven, how would you feel if we had grilled cheese, instead?" He looked a little bit disappointed, but agreed nonetheless.

As she started pulling out the necessary ingredients, the other four Avengers, Coulson, and Maria entered the kitchen. Natasha was hanging on Phil's back, and Tony was pulling Maria forward, eager to show her what he'd been building with Bruce. "Hi, honey, what's for dinner?" Phil asked, smirking. Tony, being the six-year-old that he was, wouldn't mind his cheeky flirting with Pepper. Pepper tried to glare at him, but ended up smiling instead. She knew Phil was being innocent, and that it was just his personality.

"I'm just getting stuff ready for grilled cheese," she answered. "Do you guys like grilled cheese?" she asked the kids.

Tony and Bruce answered in the affirmative, whereas Natasha and Thor were not so sure. "What types of cheeses are we, 'grilling'?" Thor asked, confused. They must not have this classic dish in Asgard. Phil smiled and promised him he would like it.

"I don't think I like grilled cheese," Natasha said, crinkling her nose.

"I have an idea. I'll make you a sandwich, and if you don't like it, I'll make you something else. Deal?" Pepper bargained. Natasha agreed and went to sit next to Clint. She took some crayons, before realizing she wanted the blue crayon in Clint's hand. Rather than wait for him to finish, she simply reached over and took it, prying his fingers away from it. Clint stared at the redhead before trying to get it back. Natasha punched him in the arm and started coloring. Clint rubbed his arm where she had hit him and then picked up a red crayon, picking at the wrapper.

Maria got some blank printer paper out of the printer and put it on the table, instructing Tony, Thor, and Bruce to sit and color as well. Pepper had located enough large books and encyclopedias to make some makeshift booster seats for each chair, so the kids could easily reach the table. Surprisingly, the kids all sat at the table and started coloring without argument. Pepper gave Maria a 'thumbs' up before turning to flip one of the sandwiches. Phil walked over to the table to look at the work the kids were doing. Steve was adding apples to the tree in front of a house with several people standing by it. Tony was drawing some robots, a little robot and a bigger robot. The bigger robot had what looked like a briefcase in his hand. Bruce was drawing a dog, Natasha was drawing some tulips and Thor was drawing what looked like his family. Odin, Frigga, a young Loki, and Thor were all on the page.

Clint looked around at everyone else's pictures and turned back to his own, which was still just a jumble of lines. He stuck his tongue out the corner of his mouth in concentration and gripped the crayon. He drew a circle and put two dots for eyes. Then he added what looked like a body with arms and legs. By the time he finished that, the grilled cheese sandwiches were ready. Phil told them to put their names on the papers so they could keep them, fully intending to use them against the Avengers once they were turned back. Natasha and Clint looked up at Phil. He realized that Natasha might have been too young to be able to do that so he did it for her. Clint looked expectantly at Phil. At his age, he should have been taught to write his name, but when it was clear he wasn't going to do that, Phil wrote his for him too. He gathered up artwork and crayons and set them aside.

The kids all ate their sandwiches in silence, a testament to how good they must have tasted. When they finished eating, Phil collected the plates while Pepper told them all to head to the couch. He picked Clint up and walked over to Pepper. "I think S.H.I.E.L.D. should buy the kids ice-cream. And us too, of course," he said. Because Clint couldn't necessarily hear them, Phil didn't have to worry about his mention of ice-cream causing an uproar. Pepper opened the freezer and took out a mostly empty thing of cookie dough ice cream and showed it to Clint. When he saw it, his eyes lit up and he practically squealed with excitement. Now that it was clear that Clint was a fan of ice cream, she walked into the other room.

"I have a question for you guys. Do any of you like ice-cream?" She hardly got the words out before she was swarmed. "I'll take that as a yes." She told the kids to get all of their matching knock-off crocs that were purchased for them, and Maria helped them. They were all wearing pajamas, because they were all the clothes they had at the moment. They would certainly be a stylish crew walking to the ice-cream shop in super-hero pajamas and crocs. Within a few minutes, Pepper, Phil, Maria, and six kids were crammed into the elevator and on their way down. Once they were outside on the street, Pepper took Steve and Thor's hands and started walking. Phil was carrying Clint with one arm and holding Tony's hand with his other hand. Maria was holding Bruce and Natasha's hands.

It only took them ten minutes to get to the ice cream shop. Once inside, the kids ran up to the counter too look at the flavors. "Everyone pick out one flavor. And only one!" Phil said. Thor chose chocolate, Steve chose mint chocolate chip, Bruce picked rainbow sherbet, Natasha chose cookies and cream, Tony picked bubblegum, and Clint picked strawberry. When all of the kids had their ice-cream they sat down at the tables. As they ate in silence, it started sinking in for Phil. He had already had some of his agents set up six small beds in Stark's Tower. The next morning, Reed Richards would be arriving to work on turning them back. He and Stark had worked together previously on projects, and Fury hoped that he would be able to find a way to turn them back. Phil wasn't even sure what Stark had been doing. It had something to do with a type of regeneration after injury, but beyond that, he left the science stuff to people who understood.

He made a mental list of things they would have to do the next day. He planned to take Clint to a hearing specialist to see if he could get a sort of temporary hearing aid for him. He had no idea how long he would be stuck as a kid, so he figured he should get the ball rolling on these things. Also, since the kids couldn't wear their pajamas forever, he'd have to take them shopping. They were also almost out of kid friendly food, so they'd have to stop at the supermarket. He sighed and looked at Pepper. She looked about as tired as he felt. He sincerely hoped Richards would be able to figure this out soon. He was snapped out of his reverie by Pepper. The kids had all finished their ice-cream, and they began the trek back to the Tower.

Upstairs, Pepper led them to the room where the beds were set up. They were on the same floor that the kids had spent most of the day. It was a small room, with just enough space for six beds to be lined up along two walls. Maria took her leave after grabbing her things, and wished Pepper and Phil good luck before heading back downstairs.

"Toothbrushes. We need toothbrushes," Phil said, mostly to himself. The kids wouldn't get cavities by going one night without brushing their teeth, so he didn't really worry about it. The kids were looking tired, and it was already 8:30. He had no idea how this bedtime thing was going to work. He decided to have them all get in bed and then read them a story. He hoped that would be enough. Pepper showed the kids their beds, all made up with new sheets. Steve, Natasha, and surprisingly Tony all crawled in without argument. After some coaxing, Thor and Bruce crawled into theirs as well. Phil set Clint down on his bed and Pepper carefully put socks on his feet, just as Dave had instructed. His feet weren't as sore as they were earlier, and he didn't even seem bothered by the socks. Also, surprisingly, he crawled under the covers and rolled onto his side. Honestly, Phil thought it would be a fight with him more than any of the other kids.

Phil pulled up a kids story on his phone and started reading. Pepper had turned the lights off and was standing in the doorway. She noticed that Bruce was already asleep, and Steve and Thor were pretty close. By the time the story was over, Clint, Steve, Thor, and Bruce were all sound asleep. She walked in and tucked Natasha in, kissing her on the forehead. Natasha and Tony's beds were next to each, so Phil went and sat on Tony's bed and read them one more story, hoping it would do the trick. Not even halfway through the story, they were both asleep. Phil got up and he and Pepper walked out of the room. They paused in the hallway, both in shock at the fact that they had all fallen asleep so quickly.

"We are so good at this," Pepper said, patting Phil on the shoulder. They walked into the living room before their good luck ended. Turning on the television, they sat down on the couch and both fell asleep watching something on the Food Network.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is kind of a fluffy filler chapter. I'll try to post another later today, as it is a snow day and I don't have to work! One of the benefits of working for the school district :)

The success of bedtime didn't last long. Phil woke up to Thor trying to climb up onto the couch beside him. Some cupcake show was on and Pepper was still asleep. He helped Thor up and let him cuddle against his side. "What's wrong?" Phil asked.

"I got scared. I miss Loki. When I have nightmares at home, he makes it better with magic," Thor answered, staring at the television. "He's very good at magic."

Phil sighed. He knew very well how good Loki is at magic. "What was your nightmare about?" he asked.

"There was this giant hairy cat. It was a mean cat, and it tried to get me. There was also a wild boar that chased me and tried to get me with the horns. And a small but fast rat like thing that walked on it's hind legs," Thor explained. Phil smiled widely. The Lion King must have spooked him.

"Well, it was just a dream. It's not real." Thor nodded, but made no move to get up. "Do you want to stay out here for a little bit?" Another nod. Phil ended up falling asleep again, and shortly after, Thor also fell asleep. When they woke up six and half hours later, the couch had gotten significantly more crowded. Natasha and Tony were snuggled up with Pepper on the other side of the couch. Looking at his watch, he saw that it was only 6:30 am. He had too much on his mind to get back to sleep, so he maneuvered Thor off of him and stood up.

Phil walked to the door to where Bruce, Clint, and Steve were at. When he silently nudged the door open, he was surprised to see two big brown eyes look at him. Bruce was awake, and it looked like he had been about to come join the couch club. Phil smiled and took his hand, leading him away from where Steve and Clint were still sleeping heavily. "Do you want some breakfast?" he asked.

"Yes, please," Bruce answered in a whisper. Bruce and Phil walked out to the kitchen. Thankfully, there were several kid friendly cereal options. Bruce opted for the Marshmallow Mateys. They sat in silence for a few minutes. Every once in a while, Thor's snoring would sound through the kitchen, making Bruce laugh. Bruce was a very pleasant child. Phil found himself wondering if they would end up with a mini-Hulk. He decided that would be unlikely, because the other kids went back to the actual physiology they had as children. Steve was now his pre-super-serum self, Clint couldn't hear, and Tony's chest was unmarred by anything that glows. Hopefully Bruce was his pre-gamma radiation self as well.

"What are you thinking about?" Bruce asked him after he finished his cereal. "You look like you're thinking really hard."

"I'm just thinking about which cereal I want to eat," Phil said, getting another bowl out of the cupboard.

"Oh."

"Would you recommend the Marshmallow Mateys, young sir?" he asked. Bruce nodded before tipping the bowl up and slurping the excess milk. That was a good enough answer for Phil and he poured himself a bowl and sat across from Bruce. "You were very right. This is delicious. You can have a second bowl if you don't tell the other kids."

"Really? I promise!" Bruce said, more loudly than he'd intended. He lowered his voice to a whisper. "I promise." Phil poured more cereal and milk into his bowl, and topped his own bowl off as well. As they finished up their second bowls, Natasha padded in almost silently. No wonder she made such a good spy when she grew up.

"Good morning, Natasha," Phil greeted her. Natasha stood in the doorway rubbing her eyes tiredly for a few seconds. "Do you want some cereal?" He gestured to the cereal boxes he had set out on the counter. She walked quietly to peruse her options. After some deliberation, she turned to look at Phil.

"Can I have oatmeal?" she asked.

"Maybe. Let me check the cupboard." Phil walked to the shelves and found a box of oatmeal on the third shelf. He prepared Natasha's oatmeal and set the bowl in front of her. "Be careful. It might be a little hot still." Natasha nodded and started eating, blowing on each bite before putting the spoon in her mouth.

It was 7:15 now, and the automatic coffee pot turned itself on, making Phil jump. Practically everything in this tower was automatic. Pepper had used the override codes that Tony gave her in case of emergency to silence Jarvis because he was scaring the kids.

He poured himself some of the conveniently timed coffee and sat down. Bruce had gotten some crayons and paper and was coloring quietly while Natasha ate her oatmeal. They sat there for a while before Pepper joined them. "Good morning. Coffee?" Phil nodded, and Pepper poured herself a cup. "How long have you been up?"

"Since 6:30. Want breakfast?" he asked.

"I'll just stick with the coffee," she answered, taking a sip. "What's the plan for today?" She assumed Phil had a plan. He was the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.

"We need to get them something other than pajamas to wear, so we'll have to go shopping. I was going to send Hill to pick stuff out, but figured if they're going to be like this for a while, they should at least pick out their clothes. We also need food."

At 8:00, Phil walked to where Tony and Thor were still sleeping on the couch and turned the TV on to cartoons. Then he went to the back room to wake up Clint and Steve. Clint had turned 180in his bed, and now his head was where his feet had been two hours previously. The blankets were completely discarded on the floor. Phil shook him awake, and after reassuring him that he was safe, he picked him up. Steve was already awake and they walked into the kitchen. Pepper had sent Thor and Tony in to get breakfast as well. The four kids sat at the table and ate their cereal in tired silence. When they'd finished they went in to watch cartoons.

Phil set Clint down on the couch with the five other kids. They were all enthralled with the Spongebob episode that was on. He left the room to check in with S.H.I.E.L.D.

Maria Hill had agreed to go shopping with Pepper, Phil, and the kids. They planned to find a mall so that there would be options. Pepper had access to Tony's bank account and decided Tony wouldn't mind treating them all to some new outfits. He made several phone calls, and found out that Reed Richards had arrived earlier that morning, and that he was being briefed at S.H.I.E.L.D. and would be over as soon as he was finished to take a look at Tony's work in the lab. Director Fury had promised to get the ball rolling as soon as possible, and wished Coulson good luck before abruptly hanging up.


	5. Chapter 5

Maria Hill entered Stark Tower and made her way up to where everyone was. Phil met her at the elevator. "Pepper and the kids are watching cartoons. I have to go make a phone call to an audiologist," he said. She nodded and walked further into the apartment. When Maria entered the room, Natasha jumped up and ran over to her. When she reached her however, she got shy and looked at her feet.

"Good morning, Natasha," Maria greeted her, bending down to look in her face. Natasha simply grabbed Maria's hand and led her to the couch. "Hi, Pepper. How are you doing?" she asked.

"Not bad, actually. But I guess the kids aren't quite awake yet," Pepper answered. "I hear you're going shopping with us."

"I am. I hear you're paying," she said, smiling. "Or at least Tony is." Pepper chuckled. Phil walked in at that moment.

"Well, the audiologist can fit Clint in her schedule at 9:30, so I'm going to take him now. After that, we'll swing back by and pick you guys up. Happy is waiting downstairs," he said, motioning for Clint to get up. His feet looked much better this morning, and Phil wanted to see if he could walk without it hurting too much. While he was not terribly big for his age, carrying a five year old around was getting kind of old. Clint looked unsure for a minute, but then complied. He gingerly put his feet on the ground and took a few careful steps before smiling and running the rest of the way to Phil. "We'll see you guys later," Phil said, taking Clint's hand and entering the elevator.

Clint was happy and excited as they got in the car, but as the driver pulled into what clearly was a doctor's office parking lot, his smiles and soft giggling faded. He reached for Phil's hand for reassurance. Phil hoped he would be able to get Clint into the offices without a fight, but wasn't holding up much hope. He noticed that Clint's jaw was clenched and his eyebrows were pressed together. It was a look of defiance he recognized from when Clint was an adult. It was going to be a fight. He got out of the car and walked to Clint's door. The five year old pressed down the door lock, but the driver simply unlocked it and Phil opened the door. He gave Clint what he hoped was a stern look and pulled him out of his booster seat.

"No!" Clint shouted, trying to rip his arm away. The fact that he spoke was surprising. It was the first word Phil had heard him say since the incident. The fact that he had chosen 'no' be the first, however, was not surprising. Phil knelt down to look Clint in the eye, and Clint begrudgingly met his eyes. He signed 'stop', hoping Clint understood. It was a pretty universal sign, and Clint seemed to get the message. Phil stood, grabbed Clint's hand again, and started walking to the building. As they stepped up on the sidewalk, Clint pulled away again. Phil caught Clint and held him under his left arm while he opened the door with the right. Clint was squealing and thrashing, but Phil didn't have any trouble getting him upstairs and to the office. Once they were in the thankfully sealed and secure waiting room, he set the boy down.

Rather than running around, Clint just stood there before falling to the ground dramatically. He reached for his feet, wincing slightly as he pulled at his shoe. The burns were still bothering him a little bit. Phil had checked in at the desk and was about to kneel down to look at Clint's feet when the five-year-old crawled at warped-speed to the toys that were in the corner.

After several minutes, the doctor came to get them. She hadn't been told very much about the situation, but had been given enough information to work with. The fact that a secret government agency was seeking her out was flattering, and she didn't really want to disappoint. With the help of Phil, she brought Clint back to an exam room. It was clearly set up for children. It had a small table and chairs, lots of toys and brightly colored-walls. Clint eyed everything suspiciously, wary that soon the poking and prodding would begin.

The audiologist explained how she planned to test Clint's hearing to Phil. She intended to use a little bit of several methods, because they weren't sure what Clint would respond to or understand. As they spoke, Clint grew bored of trying to figure out what was happening and started playing with some of the toys at the table.

After convincing Clint to keep the headphones in his ears, they were able to start the tests. It was pretty clear when Clint was able to hear the tones played through the headphones because his face would light up. With the baselines measured, she began conditioning Clint to perform a task with each tone he heard. Phil watched all of this from the corner. Clint was actually focusing on what he was supposed to do, and he even looked like he was enjoying all of this. After twenty-five or so minutes of these tests, the doctor announced that they were done. Phil sat down at the small table and his knees were well above the surface of the table.

"He has a significant amount of hearing loss, and because I don't have any medical or family history to work off of, I'm guessing here. He seems to understand some expressive language, so I'm guessing the hearing loss occurred after some language acquisition. That is very good news. While there isn't much I can do with regards to regaining his hearing, I can certainly fit him for hearing aids. If we fit today, he should have them within a month," she explained.

Phil shook his head. "Is there anyway we could expedite that process? S.H.I.E.L.D. would be willing to pay an extra fee to get him hearing as soon as possible. It's a matter of national security," Phil said, cringing at the cliché.

The doctor pursed her lips and tapped her pen on the table. "Let me go check something." She got up and walked out the door. Phil knew it was wishful thinking to get it taken care of today, but it was worth a try. While she was gone, his mind started turning. He wondered why Clint was so quiet, when he clearly had some language capabilities. Maybe it sounded funny in his head when he talked and he didn't like it. Maybe he was just a quiet kid. Phil knew from his file that he wasn't ever really stable in his home-life, and that can do a number on a kid's psyche. Combine that with being suddenly cut off from being able to hear anything would account for his being so laconic.

When the doctor entered the room again, she was smiling. "I have really good news. Because this is for 'national security', I was able to wrangle up some hearing aids we can try and that you can take home today. They are nowhere near as sleek or cute as the others, but they should do the trick, for the time being." She held out her hand and showed Phil the devices she had obtained.

"The government thanks you," Phil said, smirking. He picked Clint up and set him on his lap. The doctor took one of the hearing aids and handed it to Clint. The ones she had gotten out of the back room were a little bit clunky, but they were also sturdier than the smaller ones. He picked it up and looked closely at it. This hearing aid was blue, which was perfect. The doctor took it back from him and slowly placed it in his ear. She had already adjusted the settings, and the response from Clint was immediate. He instantly tilted his head to adjust for the new ability to hear. When Phil spoke again, Clint jumped and covered his ears.

"It will take a little for him to adjust, but it shouldn't take too long. It is at a lower setting that he can adjust to, and then you can adjust it as needed." Phil nodded. Clint was making a 'shh' sound, and turning his head back and fourth. He was testing it out, and was clearly pleased. He jumped off Phil's lap tried to pull him to the door.

Twenty minutes later they were getting into the car that was still waiting out front. "Good job in there, buddy," Phil said to Clint who was struggling to buckle himself up. Clint looked at him and smiled. "Can you say something?" Phil asked, assisting the boy with the buckle.

Clint kept smiling, and then nodded. "Yeah. Where'd the kids?" he asked.

"We're going to go pick them up. And then go shopping."

"Oh. Kay". The driver had some music playing, and Clint looked excitedly at the speaker on the door. Phil was giddy. He finally felt like Clint was happy. Earlier he had seemed content, but now there was joy in his eyes. It had been a rough day or so, but things were looking up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shopping shenanigans to come next chapter :)


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my favorite chapter yet. I had so much fun imagining and writing this. :)

Happy pulled up in front of Stark Tower. Phil had called ahead, so Pepper and Maria were waiting outside with the five kids. Happy was prepared and had snagged enough booster seats for each kid, minus Thor who was the only one big enough to not need one. They all got buckled in and soon they were on their way. Pepper had instructed Happy to take them out of the city and to a more suburban mall. There would be fewer people and it would be easier to keep track of the kids should they try to run off.

Bruce was chattering on about something they had seen on television before coming downstairs. "I really want it. Tony and I want to play with it. Please, Pepper?"

"What is it?" Phil asked.

"There was a commercial. It's for this gooey sand stuff that I can make monsters out of. It's cheap too. Only $19.99, plus shipping and handling. Can I have it?" Bruce asked.

"I want it too. We promise we'll be really good," Tony added, looking as innocent as he could manage.

"We'll see. If you guys are really, really good all day, maybe I'll order some. Does that sound like a deal?" Pepper finally gave them the answer they wanted. She then turned to Phil. "How did it go?"

"Really well. Watch this," he looked at Clint who was staring out the window at the passing cars. "Hey, Clint," he whispered. Clint turned his head to look at Phil, curiously.

"Why are you bein' do q-iet?" he asked, also whispering. The doctor had mentioned that his time without hearing may have some effects on his speech and articulation. He had noticed that his S's sounded like D's, and words with two sounds before the vowel were also tricky. For example, 'tricky' was 'ticky' and 'store' was 'tore'. Luckily, he was still able to understand the kid.

Pepper smiled. "Hi, Clint."

"Hi," he answered. "Um, whad your name?"

"Pepper. Do you know everyone else's names? Do you want me to tell you their names?" He nodded his head, looking a little bit shy. In a way, he was meeting them all for the first time again. She pointed to them each in turn. "This is Bruce, Tony, Thor, Steven, and the little girl is Natasha. And this is Maria. She's going shopping with us."

Natasha was seated next to Clint. "I'm glad you can hear now. Now we can be friends and I can talk to you too. I'm mad at the other boys. Will you be my friend, Clint?" she asked. She was all business, even as a kid.

"Yeah. Let be f-iend." He turned to Phil. "Thid my f-iend. Nat…Natad…Nata," he said, struggling with her name.

Natasha interrupted. "You can call me Nat, if you want. Since we're friends." Clint nodded, going back to looking out the window. Phil smiled. Best of friends, as usual.

"I do not understand. Where are we heading to?" Thor asked. "In my home, a tailor makes our clothes for us in the palace."

"Well, here, tailors make a lot of clothes and put them all in one building. Then people can go and pick out what ones they want," Pepper explained. Thor nodded his understanding. "You're quiet, Steven. Are you feeling okay?" she asked, looking at the young super-soldier.

"No. I don't feel so good," he answered, his face going a little pale. "I'm going to throw up." Happy heard that and pulled artfully over to the side of the road in record time. It was just enough time for Maria to open the door closest to her and help Steve lean out to empty his stomach. She held his forehead and held him steady until he finished. When he did, he wiped his mouth on the back of his hand. "Sorry," he said, embarrassed.

"You're fine, honey. Probably just a little car sick," Maria said, helping to buckle him back up. Pepper was surprised at this side of Maria. She had always seemed tough and stern. Happy pulled back into traffic after he heard the seatbelt click.

"Let me know if you get to feeling sick again, little man, and I'll pull over for you," Happy said, smiling back at him through the rear view mirror.

"Are we there yet?" Tony said, suddenly. "I'm bored."

"Me too," Bruce said.

"We've been driving for forever," Tony continued.

"That's not possible, Tony. If we were driving for forever, we would have been in the car for, a lot longer," Bruce corrected him.

"I know, Bruce. It's called sarcasm. Read a book," Tony said. They were both probably of genius level intelligence, and that made their arguments terribly entertaining.

"I do read books. Chapter books. You only like books with pictures," Bruce countered. Somehow, when Maria had come over the previous evening, she had brought armfuls of kids' books. She said something about nieces and nephews. Phil didn't even realize they'd looked at the books yet.

"They're non-fiction. For big kids. And you like them too!" Tony said. Bruce glared at him. After a few seconds, Bruce smiled again.

"Remember that car one? With the red car?" he asked, excitedly.

"Yeah! It was so cool. We should get one of those. I could drive it." And with that, the argument was over.

Happy pulled into the mall parking lot and dropped them off at one of the many entrances, telling them he'd pick them up in a few hours.

They helped the kids out of the car and headed into the mall. People started staring almost immediately. It took a minute for Pepper to figure out why. They were still in their pajamas, having not had anything to change into. She shared this information with Phil and Maria, and they quickly guided the kids to the children's section of the large department store. "We should have them pick out an outfit real quick so we can pay for them and have them change clothes. Then we'll shop for the rest."

"Good call," Phil said, smiling sheepishly at a woman who gave them a pitying look. He and Pepper led the Clint, Tony, Thor, Steve, and Bruce to the boys' section and Maria took Natasha to the girls'. At first, Natasha was a little peeved at having to go to another section, but then she saw the colorful displays of adorable clothes and shoes.

Pepper took Clint and Steve to look at some t-shirts while Phil took the three older boys to look at jeans. Before they had even looked at anything, Natasha came running over, followed by Maria. She had already picked out her first outfit. Pepper handed Maria the card and she went to pay.

While Natasha was changing, Clint and Steve had each picked out shirts. Clint's was light blue with a shark on it and Steve chose one that was a red Nike shirt. Pepper grabbed some jeans she thought would fit, according to the size chart and took the boys to the changing room. The shirts didn't need to be tried on, but she wanted to make sure the jeans fit. After several tries, they found pairs that fit. She brought the boys and the clothes up to the counter to pay, with the remaining boys and Phil close behind. After paying, Phil cleared it with the sales lady for them to change the kids into their new clothes.

When they came out of the changing room, Natasha and Maria were sitting in the chairs waiting. Natasha was now wearing some skinny jeans with yellow and pink paint splatter down the legs and a yellow shirt with a bicycle on the front. She looked adorable, and the boys noticed. Clint and Steve ran to meet her. They got kind of shy when they stopped in front of where she was sitting.

Tony and Bruce felt cool in their outfits. Tony had found a red shirt with a sports car on the front, and Bruce picked out a green shirt with Scooby-do on it. Tony swaggered over to everyone else, and Bruce followed, slightly less confident. Thor was not as pleased with this experience. The clothes here were different than he wore back in Asgard, and he'd have to get used to them. He also had jeans on, and a grey thermal shirt.

The three adults looked pleased. These kids were starting to shape up. Next, they needed shoes. Pepper couldn't allow them to walk around in knock-off crocs for any longer. Adult-Tony would die if he could see himself now wearing those things. This time around, Pepper took Natasha and Clint. The two kids were sort of magnetized to each other, and they didn't want to separate. Clint agreed to go to the girls' shoes first, and they went across the aisle. Phil and Maria took the other boys to their respective sections, and the all reconvened at a bank of chairs to try on their selections.

Natasha had picked out some pink sandals, but when she saw Clint's grey low-top Converse, she changed her mind. They ended up with matching shoes. Tony picked some Sperry's that matched his shirt. Steve and Bruce got Velcro tennis-shoes, and Thor chose leather sandals.

Finally, after an hour, the kids were dressed appropriately for being out in public. Now, the real shopping could begin. They took their things and went out to the main mall concourse. Almost immediately, Clint and Natasha rushed forward and towards the inconveniently located toy store. Clint didn't even look back, but Natasha looked over her shoulder. She knew she shouldn't be running off, but soon sided with her rebellious friend. Phil jogged over to them and intercepted.

"Toys later. After we get some more clothes," he instructed. Natasha complied, but Clint side-stepped to try to get away again. Phil grabbed his upper arm and dragged him back to the group.

"P-ease? I don't want any more c-othes," Clint whined. He was getting easier to understand, and Phil wasn't sure if it was actually Clint's speech improving, or just himself getting used to deciphering it. He was still struggling with double-consonant letters, but every once in a while, the 'S' sound would come out correctly.

"Nope. And if you keep running off, you'll have to hold my hand the whole time," Phil informed him. Clint crossed his arms but stuck by him as they walked to another store.

They shopped for clothes for another forty minutes or so, and were headed to the food court for lunch. There was a McDonalds and Phil made an executive decision to order six cheeseburger happymeals and call it good. They pulled three tables together and sat down. Each kid had their meal and a Sprite. For simplicity's sake, Maria, Phil, and Pepper also chose things from the McDonalds menu. After they finished eating, they took a bathroom break. Maria, Pepper, and Natasha went to the girls' bathroom, while Phil herded the five boys into the other door. As they boys were washing their hands, Phil realized Clint wasn't at the sink with the others. Before he had a chance to turn around and look for him, Clint had peeked his head over the stall door, grinning. He pulled himself up further, and Phil had to pull him down. Clint washed his hands and they all headed out the door to where the girls were waiting.

Steve was getting tired, and Phil picked up on this and picked him up to give him a piggyback ride.

When they got close to the toy store, Clint started to run off, but Natasha grabbed his hand and told him to stay. He immediately complied, and they continued to hold hands. Until Tony saw them. "Ooooh, Natasha and Clint are in looove," he mocked. The other boys joined in, though less eagerly than Tony, in the teasing. Natasha quickly ripped her hand out of Clint's and ran towards Pepper. Before she made it to her, however, she turned to Tony and shoved him backwards with both hands. He stumbled backwards a little bit, but Natasha was quite a bit smaller than him.

"We're not in love. He's my friend. You're stupid," she said, turning and walking the rest of the way to Pepper.

"Yeah, Tony. You're a add-hole," Clint added, walking to stand next to Natasha. Natasha went to stand on the opposite side of Pepper from Clint, still embarrassed by the comment and wanting to distance herself from him. The kids gasped, and Phil tried not to laugh.

"Clint. You're too young to use that language," he said. Clint stuck his tongue out and ignored him. Tony was upset.

"He can't even talk! It's ass-hole, not add-hole, stupid," he said, taking a step towards Clint. Tony was taller than Clint, and Clint had to look up at him. Phil intervened by pulling Tony backwards. Clint's eyes welled up with tears, and his face turned red.

Pepper knelt down and wrapped her arm around the young archer.

"Tony, you should not talk to people like that. That was very mean, and you owe Clint an apology. If I hear you say anything like that again, you're not going to get anything from the toy store. Do you understand me?" Phil lectured, genuinely angry with the kid.

"Yes. I'm sorry," Tony said, his lip quivering.

"Don't apologize to me, apologize to Clint."

Tony turned and walked toward Clint whose eyes were still watery and face was starting to fade to pink. "I'm sorry," Tony said to him. He looked back at Phil to see if the apology was sufficient. Phil nodded and they started into the toy store. They were each instructed to pick out one thing, and one thing only. The kids all dispersed, and the adults struggled to keep them all in eyesight. Thor had chosen a stuffed animal, but then he came across the foam weapons. He tossed the stuffed horse aside and chose a foam sword.

Steve wandered up and down the aisles, and he ended up choosing an oversized etch-a-sketch. Tony and Bruce both chose a science kit for kids, and when they saw that they both had the same thing, they decided it would be logical for one of them to pick something else.

"I want to get it. You can have something else," Bruce said. Tony shook his head.

"I'm older than you!"

"I'm bigger than you!"

"I want it, and you can get another toy. A cooler toy!" Tony tried bargaining. Bruce was standing his ground though. Phil was ready to intervene. Bruce looked around.

"Look, Tony! That remote control car is just like the one in that book! If you get that, we can share both. Then it's like we both get two toys," he said, pointing to the red car. Tony turned to look, and bit his lip.

"Fine. But you have to share," he said, unceremoniously dropping the science kit and grabbing the car. "And I get to play with this first." Bruce agreed to the terms, and the crisis was averted.

In the next aisle over, Natasha was looking at the dolls. She had a toy sword like Thor's in her hand, and was torn over whether she wanted that or the baby doll that cried. She decided that she would just steal Thor's if she wanted it and chose the lifelike baby doll. Clint kept trying to stand by her, but she would take a few steps away and ignore him. He was confused.

Instead of asking her why she was mad, he decided to fight fire with fire. He grabbed the bow and arrow he'd picked out and started shooting her with the foam darts. He hit her in the shoulder, and she picked up the discarded sword and ran at him. She starts wailing on him, and pretty soon they're rolling on the ground. Pepper runs over and picks Natasha up off of Clint where she was sitting on his stomach and hitting his face with the sword.

"I thought you guys were friends," she said, laughing a little bit. Clint was sitting on the ground still when Phil and the rest of the kids joined them in the aisle.

"We are!" Clint said, clearly confused at the situation. His face was turning red again, and his eyebrows were scrunched together.

Natasha wriggled her way out of Pepper's hold and went to help Clint up. "I'm sorry I was mad at you. I still want to be your friend. I was mad at Tony," she said. Clint smiled and hugged her. Natasha hugged him back for a few seconds, before pulling away. She went to pick up the baby-doll she had dropped when she'd grabbed the sword.

The kids brought their selections up to the counter, and Phil paid for them. They didn't get bags, because they kids wanted to carry their own toys out of the mall. As promised, Happy was waiting by the door he'd dropped them off at. They all loaded in, and by the time they reached the interstate Natasha, Steve, and Bruce were asleep and the other three weren't far behind.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Presenting...The Fantastic Four as babysitters.

Phil, Pepper, and Maria unloaded six very tired kids outside of Stark Tower. Phil carried Natasha, and she fell back asleep in his arms on the way up the elevator. They had intended to go grocery shopping after the mall, but decided to let the kids nap while Maria and Phil went shopping. Pepper thought she'd be able to keep track of all of the sleeping kids. They settled the kids into their beds for a little nap, and pretty soon all the kids were asleep again, or at least were pretending to be. Pepper settled herself onto the couch and relaxed.

In the kids' room, most of the kids were asleep. Bruce and Tony, however, were awake.

"Are you awake?" Tony asked, whispering loudly.

"Yeah," Bruce answered. Tony was already up and tiptoeing over to Bruce's bed.

"Let's go play with our toys. Pepper put them in the kitchen. Come on," he said, pulling Bruce's blankets back. Bruce rolled out of bed before Tony could find further ways to make him get up.

The pair snuck out to the living room where Pepper was on the couch. They sunk to the ground and crawled through to the kitchen. The toys were sitting on the table, and they silently grabbed their respective items and tiptoed over towards the stairs. Once they were out of earshot, they began whispering excitedly.

"I don't know why we need to take naps. We're not babies," Tony said.

"Yeah. Only babies take naps," Bruce added. They set their stuff down in a mostly empty room and began tearing at the wrappings. Beaker by beaker, they pulled out the items from the science kit. Bruce picked up the instruction book. "Look at all the cool experiments we can do!"

Tony rolled his eyes. "We don't need instructions," he said, grabbing the booklet and tearing it up. After he tore it up, he reached for a container full of green liquid. These were all harmless concoctions, but the boys felt like they were playing with dangerous chemicals.

Bruce poured a similar liquid into a beaker and set it on the hardwood floor. Tony had abandoned the liquid and was now opening up some things that looked like Tums. He dropped one into the liquid Bruce had poured and it started to fizzle.

"Cool!" Bruce said.

"Sort of," Tony mumbled, disappointed. He then proceeded to drop three more of the pellets into the vial. At that, the liquid bubbled up over the rim and onto the floor. "Now it's cool!" They were both giggling excitedly when the bubbles continued to pour out of the beaker.

Pretty soon they had exhausted the limited supplies the kit came with. They were drenched in the green liquid, some slime, and water from the bathroom sink. Tony walked over and began opening the remote control car. There was a battery charger included that needed to be plugged into an outlet to power the car, and Tony grabbed it and walked to the nearest outlet.

"There's already batteries in the car and the remote, Tony," Bruce said, turning over the car in his hands. Tony had already knelt down in front of the outlet, and when he went to plug it in, something went wrong. His hands and the plug had been wet when he plugged it in, and in turn he received a shock. It knocked him onto his rear end, and he sat there staring at the offending outlet for a few seconds.

Bruce dropped the car and ran over to his friend. "Are you okay!" he asked nervously. Tony nodded slowly.

"That was awesome!" he answered, standing up. He was unsteady and wavered a little bit, but it didn't slow him down at all.

"You could have died!" Bruce said, still concerned. "What did it feel like?"

"Tingly," Tony answered before running over Bruce's foot with the car. Just then, Pepper came running in. The shock had caused the other room's power to dim, and then she had heard Bruce's worried exclamation.

"What on earth do you boys think you're doing?" she asked.

"Playing," Tony answered a little too quickly.

"Tony got shocked when he plugged in the car," Bruce said, knowing she'd find out eventually.

Pepper hurried over to Tony. "Is that true?" she asked, worried. She took his face in her hands and looked him over. She reached for his hands next and noticed a small burn on his right hand.

"Yeah, but I'm fine!" Tony said, pulling away from her. Pepper didn't let go. She grabbed his arm and Bruce's shirt-sleeve and marched them downstairs. When they got downstairs, Phil and Maria had arrived with the groceries. Director Fury was with them.

Phil saw the hold Pepper had on the two boys and stifled a chuckle. "This oughta be good."

"They were up on the next floor conducting experiments. And in Tony's case, electrocuting themselves," Pepper said.

Phil nodded. "Well, that doesn't surprise me. Is he okay?"

"He has a little burn on his hand, but other than that, yes." The talking had woken some of the other kids. Clint plodded out of the bedroom, rubbing his eyes. He wasn't looking where he was going and bumped into Fury, falling backwards and landing on his butt. His hearing aide was on the kitchen counter from before the nap. Phil grabbed it and slipped it onto Clint's ear.

Fury looked down at the sleepy-eyed kid and smiled. Director Fury's smiles were few and far between. At least his sincere, non-menacing smiles. "I'm told you can hear now," he said, bending down and helping Clint up. "Is that true?"

Clint nodded. "Yeah. What's wrong with your eye? Why do you on-y have one?" Maria and Phil froze, glancing at the director's face, unsure of how he would respond. To their relief, he chuckled lightly.

"I only need one," he said. That seemed to satisfy Clint's curious mind. He turned without another word and went back into the bedroom. Seconds later, he emerged again with Natasha. He pulled her by the arm and walked up to Fury again.

"What your name?" he asked.

"You can call me Director."

"Dir-direc-or?" Clint clarified. "This is Nat. We're f-iends." Fury was chuckling still. "Why are you laughin at me?"

"I'm not laughing at you. And I have a deal for you. You can call me Nick, but only if you are really good." Clint nodded. Steve and Thor had also exited the bedroom.

"I'm hungry," Thor announced. Thor was always hungry, as an adult and a child. "Can we eat dinner?"

"Yeah. I think that's a good idea. Reed Richards and the rest of the Fantastic Four are back at S.H.I.E.L.D. Maybe we should see if they want to grab dinner somewhere," Phil answered. "What do you think, director? Can S.H.I.E.L.D. pay for dinner?"

Fury rolled his one eye, but agreed. The kids went to put on a new outfit they had picked out and Phil called Sue Storm, because he knew from previous experience that Reed wouldn't even hear his phone if he was working. One by one, the kids came out dressed in their new clothes. Natasha put on a dress with her Converse, and asked Maria to put her hair in a braid. Clint was sitting on the floor trying to tie his shoes, and when he saw how cute Natasha looked, he froze.

Natasha walked over to Clint and knelt in front of him. Without asking, she reached forward to help him tie his shoes. Clint didn't appreciate it though. "-top it! I can do it by myse-f…myself!" He emphasized the 'l' in self the second time he said it. As he was saying this, he shoved Natasha backwards and she almost toppled over. She retaliated by ripping his shoe off and chucking it at his head with impressive strength. "OW!" he yelled. He stood up, but before he had a chance to tackle Natasha, Fury intervened, picking him up and setting him on the counter.

Natasha stuck her tongue out at him and walked over to the other boys who were lining up at the door. Fury retrieved the thrown shoe, slipped it on his left foot, and tied them.

When they pulled up in front of S.H.I.E.L.D. the members of the Fantastic Four were waiting outside. Reed was looking distracted and obviously annoyed about not being in the lab. Happy stopped the limo and they climbed in. It was cramped, but everyone fit, even Ben, who sat shotgun. They greeted each other, pulled the door shut, and were driving off again. Clint was staring at Ben from the second row of seats, his mouth slightly agape. Ben noticed, and rolled his eyes.

"What are you looking at, kid?" he asked gruffly. Clint immediately looked down at his hands. Sue was sitting next to Clint.

"Ben, they're just kids. Give him a break," she scolded him. "My name's Sue. What's your name?"

Clint looked at her from the corner of his eye, still uncomfortable. "C-int," he answered quietly.

Coulson leaned over and whispered in Sue's ear that his name was Clint before she called him the wrong name. "Hi, Clint. The guy in the front seat's name is Ben. He's nice, I promise."

"Just don't get on his bad side, kid," Johnny warned from the back seat of the limo. "He's got a real temper." Sue rolled her eyes and Reed nudged Johnny in the gut. "I'm just kidding. He's a lamb," he corrected. Happy stopped the limo in front of an Italian restaurant. They all climbed out of the limo and congregated on the sidewalk. Clint was standing as far away from Ben as possible. Bruce, Tony, and Thor were all intrigued with him though. Tony was poking him in the arm. Ben just chuckled. Thor was climbing up his other arm, and Bruce was just looking.

"Why are you made of rock?" Clint asked, walking over to him and pulling Natasha with him.

"It's a long story," he answered. Clint nodded.

"Oh." The grownups ushered the kids into the restaurant. They were lucky the place was deserted, because they hadn't even thought about making reservations.

"Hi. How many?" the waitress at the front asked as they walked in. Phil answered that there would be twelve. Maria and Fury had gone back to headquarters, and thus wouldn't be dining with them. The waitress told them to wait while she pulled some tables together.

Once they were all seated, the waitress handed them menus. The kids were given kids' menus with coloring pages on the back, and she gave them each a small pack of crayons. Steve was thrilled. He carefully took out the four crayons and laid them out next to his paper. As he meticulously colored the sheet, Clint observed. As an adult he'd been the same. He was more comfortable watching than participating. Even though he was incredibly cocky, he also tried to shun the spotlight as much as he could. He was an observer.

"Are you going to color too?" Steve asked Clint.

"Yeah. You're good at coloring. Are you a awtist?" he asked, completely serious. Steve shook his head. Clint started coloring on his own sheet, but he stayed hunched over the paper.

Sue was sitting beside Clint, and Natasha was on her other side. "Are you going to color, Natasha?" she asked. The redhead shook her head.

"No. Wanna play tic-tac-toe?" she asked Sue. Pepper was surprised when Natasha knew about tic-tac-toe, given Natasha's less than average childhood. Sue agreed and Natasha drew the board. "You can be X's," she said. Sue won the first round, and Clint was leaning over in his seat to see.

"I wanna p-ay," he announced. "Nat, let me p-ay."

"You could say please, you know," she said, glaring at him. Tony snickered from across the table.

"No, he can't say please. He says peas," he said. Natasha turned her glare to him. "What? He does!"

Bruce was looking awkward. He wanted to defend Clint, but he and Tony were best friends. He didn't want Tony to be mad at him. He decided that he should help Clint, though. "Be nice, Tony. He can't help it, and you shouldn't make fun of people because they talk funny."

Sue was watching this whole exchange with wide eyes. Clint looked hurt, and she thought he was going to cry, but then he picked up a crayon and chucked it at Tony's face, hitting him right between the eyes.

"Ss-top it!" he screamed, emphasizing the 's'. If there had been any other patrons in the restaurant, all eyes would have been on the kids. "You're a bully. And I don't like you. And Nat don't either."

"Doesn't. Not don't," Natasha corrected him quietly. He glared at her before grabbing his ears. He took out his hearing aid and threw it onto the table.

Phil had quietly stood up and walked around the table to Clint. He knelt down and put his hand on Clint's back. Clint was crying now. He motioned for Clint to come with him and grabbed the discarded hearing aid. Silently, they walked to the other side of the restaurant.

When Phil went to put Clint's hearing aid back in, Clint threw himself on the floor. "No!" he cried. "I don't want it!" He was sobbing now, and Phil pulled him onto his lap and held him as he cried. Natasha walked over slowly, pulling an uncomfortable looking Sue with her. Natasha had grown attached to her, just as she had with Maria and Pepper. She seemed to crave a motherly affection. When Clint noticed them, he tried to stop himself from crying, but that only made it worse.

"I would tell you they're not always like this, but that would be a lie," Phil said, smiling at Sue. Natasha crawled up on the bench next to Phil and put an unsure hand on Clint's arm. He looked at her shyly, and she pointed to the hearing aid in Phil's hand and then at Clint's ear, telling him to put it in. Her eyes told him that it wasn't an option. He didn't fight when Phil put it back in. He had turned the volume down a little bit to give Clint a break. It may have been too much too fast for him to adjust to.

"You should stop crying. Just ignore Tony. He's a jerk," she said. Clint nodded and took a shaky breath.

"I'll talk to Tony and tell him he needs to start being nice, but I don't want you guys getting back at him. That will only make him be more mean," Phil instructed. "Why don't you two wait here with Sue for a minute." He walked back towards the rest of the kids.

Sue sat down where Phil had been sitting, and Clint looked up at her. He leaned his head on her arm. "Why id that guy made of rock?" he asked suddenly. Sue smiled.

"It's a long story," she answered.

Clint rolled his eyes, but didn't ask any more questions. Phil motioned to Sue for them to come and rejoin the table, so she took Clint and Natasha both by the hand and they walked back over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave me a comment if you enjoyed that chapter! Comments mean more chapters!...sorry about the bribery.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a little sadder than the others, and there is not going to be as much dialogue. Sorry, it just kind of turned out like this... These are damaged kids, and those issues are going to start coming up (the neglect, abuse, and everything else). I promise it won't stay this angry!

Tony hadn't expected Clint to start crying. He only wanted to tease, but when the scene unfolded, he felt a little bit guilty. When Phil walked over to him from where he, Clint, Natasha, and Sue were sitting, he shrunk down in his seat. Phil sat back down in his seat and looked over at the sheepish looking Tony. With a raise of the eyebrows, Phil communicated that that was not acceptable, and that they would talk later. He had very expressive eyebrows.

Once everyone had sat back down at the table, they started making some decisions on what they would eat. Natasha picked macaroni and cheese, so Clint naturally chose the same thing. Steve and Bruce got grilled cheese, Tony got chicken fingers, and Thor picked a cheeseburger. Within half an hour, they all had their food. The rest of the meal was without incident, which was a relief. Phil had never realized what an ordeal it was to take kids out in public, even if they weren't your kids.

Back at the Tower, the all piled out of the limo. Reed wanted to have a look at Tony's lab, where the actual incident had taken place. They squeezed into the elevator, and Ben took the stairs, as usual. Phil took Reed up to the lab and everyone else sat down on various chairs and couches. After a few minutes, however, Ben excused himself. He wasn't really a kid person, apparently.

It was 8:30, and Pepper was concerned that the kids wouldn't be tired enough for bed. Even though she knew it was sort of lazy on her part, she decided a movie would calm the wired kids down enough for bedtime.

She gathered up the kids' movies she could locate and laid them out on the ottoman. Steve, Thor, and Natasha immediately swarmed, eager to be the one to pick the movie. Tony and Bruce weren't pleased. They had made the connection between movies on the couch and bed time. Clint seemed disinterested as well. Pepper knew that whatever Natasha would pick Clint would back up. Either that or he would smash her over the head with a pillow. She couldn't be sure.

Pepper allowed Natasha to pick the movie, much to the boys' chagrin. She picked Beauty and the Beast. Sue was sitting on the couch and Natasha climbed up next to her. Pepper was reassured by the fact that Natasha had connected so well with all the women who had been helping out. Her childhood was still shrouded in some mystery, but Pepper had gathered that it hadn't been nurturing in the normal sense of the word.

Thor seemed content, and acted comfortable around almost anyone. Pepper had also surmised that growing up in Asgard with his family had left him more well-rounded than the rest of this rag tag group of superheroes. Steve had developed a good relationship with Pepper ever since the asthma attack. Bruce and Tony were the ones that Pepper was concerned about. They seemed apathetic to the adults that had been around. She couldn't decide if it was a natural thing with their age, or if their screwed up childhoods had stunted their emotional abilities to connect. Pepper laughed inwardly at herself. She was starting to think like a therapist.

She noticed that Clint was sitting on the couch away from everyone else. With Phil not around, Clint put his walls back up. Thanks to adult-Tony, she knew Clint's childhood was as messed up as the rest of them. He was guarded as an adult. Only Natasha and Phil were able to get past his barricades. As a child, it was the same way. It broke her heart when she thought about how these kids could have been so mistreated as kids. They were some of the most adorable kids she had ever known. Troublesome, but still adorable. She didn't understand how someone could look into their eyes and want to do anything but love them and take care of them.

She was snapped out of her reverie by the opening scenes of Beauty and the Beast. Sue and Johnny were on the couch with the kids. Sue had Natasha curled up on one side and Thor on the other. Thor was thrilled with this movie as well. He was incredibly easy to please, however. Steve and Bruce were sitting next to Johnny, with Tony perched on the armrest, doing his best to look put out by the movie. She could tell that he was secretly into it, though. Clint was sitting on the floor by the ottoman fidgeting with his hearing aide. Pepper sat down on the floor next to him and leaned against the ottoman. Clint looked at her curiously. They watched the movie in silence, but during the scene in the woods with the wolves, Clint scooted closer to Pepper.

About halfway through the movie, Reed and Phil came into the room. Phil laughed at what he saw. Steve was asleep leaning against Johnny's shoulder, Thor had scooted up to directly in front of the television, Tony had fallen asleep halfway hanging off the arm of the couch, and Bruce was watching the movie quietly. Sue was asleep, and Natasha had moved to sit with Pepper on the floor, and Clint was also sound asleep, and snoring lightly, with his head in Pepper's lap. One by one, he transferred the sleeping kids to their respective beds.

When the movie ended, the remaining kids shuffled off to their beds, leaving the adults sitting on the couch. After getting everyone up to speed on the status of getting to the bottom of Tony's experiment, Johnny, Sue, and Reed took their leave. Once the kids were all in bed, Phil's phone rang. He answered quickly, glancing towards the doorway to the sleeping kids, hoping they hadn't woken up.

Pepper could hear a female voice on the other end of the phone call. Phil had greeted her as Jane, and she wondered who it was. Maybe a girlfriend? A S.H.I.E.L.D. agent with his personal phone number? Clearly it was someone who could be trusted, because he explained the situation with the kids to her in detail. After they hung up, Pepper looked at him with raised eyebrows.

"That was Jane. Thor's sort-of girlfriend. She was in New Mexico when he came crashing down to earth. Actually, she ran over him twice with her car," he explained. "She and her research assistant Darcy are flying in tomorrow." Pepper had a feeling this place was going to get real crowded real fast. Thankfully, the Fantastic Four had found other lodgings.

"Well, I suppose I could actually make you up a real bed in one of the spare bedrooms. You may be here for a while, so you should probably settle in," Pepper offered.

"What about the kids? The spare bedroom would be on another floor, right? Someone should probably stay on this floor."

"I can have JARVIS alert us if any of the kids start to wake up. If you want to sleep on the couch again, be my guest, but I'm sure they'll be fine. There is a furnished spare room on the next floor up," she said. Phil agreed, and after one last look at the six sleeping Avengers, they went upstairs.

Pepper showed him to his room, bade him goodnight, and went up to her bedroom. She instructed JARVIS to alert both her and Phil if the kids started waking up, changed into her pajamas, and went to bed. It had been a long couple days, so she fell asleep quickly, and so did Phil several floors down.

Much to everyone's surprise, JARVIS had nothing to report until 7 the next morning. Phil was already awake and on his second cup of coffee when Thor wandered out from the bedroom.

"Good morning," Phi said, smiling.

"Good morning," Thor responded. "I'm hungry." Phil laughed and pointed to the package of pop-tarts that he had already set on the table in preparation for Thor's appetite. After one bite, Thor was thrilled. "Another!" he cried, reaching for the box.

"Nope, you only need one. We need to save some for the other kids."

"I suppose you're right. We should be fair," Thor agreed. As if on cue, the other kids started filing out of the bedroom. Clint was the only one still in bed when Pepper came down, hair wet from a shower.

"Good morning, everyone!" she greeted. "I see you guys found the pop-tarts."

"I love pop-tarts!" Thor informed her loudly. Pepper laughed.

"I'm glad," she answered. "Is Clint still sleeping?" she asked Phil. Phil nodded. "I'm going to go wake him up. Before he misses out on all the pop-tarts." She walked into the bedroom and found Clint was curled up sideways on the bed, with the blankets twisted around his small body. Pepper sat down on the bed and looked at him. He started waking up when she sat down, and he looked at her with a confused look. He grabbed one of the blankets and pulled it up over his face.

When Pepper pulled it back down, she was surprised to see tears running down Clint's face. She reached forward to wipe some of the tears away, but he flinched backwards. "Where'd my mommy?" he asked, his voice quaking. "Can I go home yet? I p-omise I'll be good," he continued in a whisper. Pepper felt her eyes tearing up. This was heartbreaking. She grabbed his hearing aide off the nightstand and he allowed her to put it in.

"I'm so sorry, honey, but you can't go home yet," she said. She opened her mouth to continue, but there wasn't anything else to say. "You're safe, here, and we all love you. Everyone's in the kitchen eating breakfast. Do you want to get up and join them? Phil is out there." Clint nodded and wiped his face. Together they walked out to the kitchen. Clint didn't even look up at Phil before he climbed up onto his lap. Phil handed Clint a pop-tart and took a sip of coffee.

Pepper made an excuse that she had to go and grab something and walked to the elevator. When she got in the elevator, she started to weep. "Is everything alright, Miss Potts?" JARVIS asked.

"I'm fine, JARVIS. I'm just sad because Clint was so sad this morning," she explained. It wasn't strange at all for her to unload her problems on JARVIS, and the AI was used to it.

"Yes, I noticed Mr. Barton was not happy. I should inform you that he cried four times during the night."

"Four times?! Why didn't you wake me or Phil?"

"You asked me to alert you if the kids woke up. Mr. Barton wasn't awake when he was crying. I should also inform you that Bruce and Steve also cried during the night."

Pepper shook her head. "Thank you, JARVIS," she said before sliding down the wall and pulling her knees to her chest, crying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please please please comment and let me know what you thought!


	9. Chapter 9

Pepper wiped away her tears and got out of the elevator on her floor. After splashing her face with cold water, she went down to join everyone else. They were all either eating breakfast or sitting on the couch watching cartoons. "I'm going to take Clint and Steve with me to some meetings I can't get out of," Pepper announced.

"Are you sure? They will probably cause a scene," Phil warned.

"Given who I usually have to handle at these meetings," Pepper gestured to Tony and then continued, "I think I'll be okay." Phil laughed but agreed. "Can I talk to you in the other room?" she asked.

When they were out of earshot, Pepper informed Phil what JARVIS had told her earlier. "Crap," Phil said, shaking his head. "Maybe it will be good for them to all have some time to themselves today. Once Jane and Darcy get here, the ratio will be even better. I'll try to spend some quality time with Bruce." After that was settled they went back out to the couches.

It was a good thing they returned when they did. Thor had grabbed his foam sword and was holding it over his head behind Natasha. Phil grabbed the sword before he could swing. Honestly, it was more for Thor's safety than Natasha's. He didn't understand why the boys continued to pick fights with Natasha. She could pack a punch.

"Okay, guys. We have some time before we have to run to the airport, so let's go for a walk around the block," Phil said. The kids shouldn't be watching cartoons all day. "Go get dressed!" The kids all ran to their room to get their clothes. After a couple minutes, the kids were all lined up at the door.

Once they were outside, a man walked by with his dog. Thor was thrilled and took off after the dog. Phil intercepted him before he could literally attack the dog. "Okay, when we see a dog we want to pet, we have to ask the owner," Phil instructed. "You need to make sure it's a nice dog."

Thor looked at the man with the dog. "May I touch the dog?" he asked. The man said he could, so Thor pet the dog gently after a warning from Phil. When he was done, they went back to the rest of the kids.

"Let's get going," Phil said, ushering them forward. It was a busy day on the street because the weather was starting to cool off. There were a lot of people out walking. The group got a couple weird looks, mostly from mothers wondering why there were six rambunctious kids wandering the streets. They probably walked their own kids around in strollers at the same time every morning and were used to seeing the same people. The mini-vengers definitely weren't the 'same people'.

Phil made a point of walking with Steve, since Bruce was busy talking with Tony. He wanted to say something to Steve, but didn't know what. He settled for putting his hand on Steve's shoulder. He'd wait until they could be alone, or at least when it was quieter.

When they got back to the tower, it was time for Pepper to take off with Clint and Steve. She laid out some outfits for them and quickly combed their hair, much to Clint's annoyance. As she was doing this, she made a mental note to get these kids in the bath sometime today. Boys smelled, and these boys were no exception. Clint was not pleased with having to change clothes again, but she wanted them to look nice for the meetings. She also had to admit that she just wanted to dress them up for the fun of it.

They said goodbye to everyone and walked to the elevator. "Where are we going?" Steve asked.

"We're going to go to a few meetings, and then we're going to go out to lunch. Does that sound like fun?" Pepper asked.

"Yeah," Steve answered. Clint shook his head to indicate that it did not in fact sound fun.

"Meetings are boring. We s-ould go to a park," he stated, looking up at Pepper from the corner of his eyes.

"Don't worry, they shouldn't take that long," Pepper reassured him, smiling. Thee rode the elevator down to the garage. Happy had the day off, so she would be driving. After putting the booster seats from the limo into one of Tony's cars with four-door, the kids buckled up and they were on their way.

They drove in silence for a while. "Do you boys like music?" she asked. She received an affirmative from Steve, and caught a nod from Clint in the mirror. She clicked on the radio and found a station. The meetings were across town, but traffic wasn't that bad this morning. She parked the car and got the kids out. There was a conveniently located Starbucks by the building. "Who wants hot chocolate?"

"I do!" Clint said, loudly.

"Me too!" Steve joined in.

"Okay, let's get some, then," she said, ushering them into the coffee shop.


	10. Meltdown

Pepper held Clint's hand while they stood in line for their hot chocolate. She trusted Steve stay by her side, but not so much Clint. Clint fought it for a moment, twisting his hand. "Hold my hand so we can have hot chocolate, Clint," Pepper said calmly. Her tactic worked and Clint immediately stopped his plight to free himself.

She ordered two kids' not-so-hot chocolates and a double shot latte for herself. The barista smiled at the boys. "You have two very adorable sons, ma'am," she said, handing Pepper her card back.

Pepper bit her lip. She wasn't sure what to say, so she just thanked the lady and led the boys to the pick-up counter. They only had to wait a few minutes for their drinks. During that minute, however, Clint grew restless. He renewed his attempts at getting out of Pepper's grasp, succeeding only to crash into Steve. They both went sprawling. Steve looked shocked but quickly stood up and Clint had an unreadable expression on his face. It looked as though he would cry or laugh and just hadn't decided yet.

He opted for neither. He shut down, and Pepper could actually see him retreating into himself, refusing to look at anyone. He started to crawl into the corner. Pepper quickly knelt down, gave him a reassuring look, and picked him up. She held him in her arms and while he was rigid at first, he gave in and laid his head on her shoulder.

"Steven, are alright?" she asked, looking down at the young boy.

"Yeah. Is Clint okay?" Pepper smiled. The kid had a heart of gold.

She nodded, but Steve looked unsure. "Clint? Steve wants to know if you are okay. Are you okay?" she asked softly. Clint waited a moment before nodding quickly. He didn't relinquish his grip on Pepper, though.

Shortly after the drama subsided, their drinks were ready. Pepper tried to set Clint down, but he just tightened his hold. "Clint I need you to walk, so you can carry your hot cocoa," she told him. And just like that, Clint snapped out of it and squirmed to get down. She handed the boys their drinks with warnings to be careful.

The walk to the elevators and into the conference room was relatively uneventful. Once inside the room, Pepper scanned the area for an ideal location for her and the two boys. She found a seat in the corner that had a bit of area on the floor with relatively few hazards.

"Okay, boys. I need you to sit down here on the floor. I have to talk to some people, and I need you two to be as quiet as you can, okay?" The boys nodded, though Clint wasn't looking at her. She gave the boys a stack of scratch paper she had taken from the apartment and some markers.

Meanwhile, Phil and Maria had somehow gotten Tony, Thor, Natasha, and Bruce into the car and Happy was driving them to the airport. Natasha was asleep in her car seat, while the boys chattered non-stop.

The drive was uneventful and peaceful. The difference two kids can make was astounding. And with Natasha sleeping, things were even more peaceful. Natasha was a bit of an instigator. She and Clint both.

Maria held the drowsy Natasha in her arms while Phil held Thor's hand as they walked into the airport. "Bruce and Tony, stay close, please. If you run off, I will make you hold hands," Phil warned. Happy was doing laps, because even Tony Stark's personal chauffeur can be ticketed for loitering at the airport.

Fortunately, the flight was on time, and Jane and Darcy would be arriving any minute. Unfortunately, there were numerous tempting items in the 'arrivals' area of the airport. The baggage claim became an instant draw, and Phil had to use his serious voice when Tony took off towards the rotating deathtraps.

"Who want's a snack?" Phil asked, knowing that the food would hopefully distract them long enough for the flight to get in. All the kids were thrilled at the idea, and they went to stand in line at the small store. While the selection was minimal, the kids seemed happy. It didn't take long for them to select their overpriced snacks. Phil and Maria herded them to a corner where they were easily corralled.

After a few minutes, Phil heard someone call his name. Darcy and Jane were approaching, bags in hand. Phil stood, starting to clean up the mess. Natasha stared at the newcomers warily. She grabbed Maria's hand. "How was your fight?" Phil asked.

"It was fine," Jane answered.

At the same time, Darcy stated that they almost died.

"Just a bit of turbulence. Nothing major," Jane supplied.

Tony, Thor, and Bruce were quietly staring at Darcy and Jane. Tony spoke first. "Who are you people?"

"Tony, these are my friends Darcy and Jane. They're going to come stay with us for a while. Ladies, this is Tony, Thor, and Bruce," Phil introduced.

Darcy nearly squealed. "Mini-vengers!" she said, ruffling Thor's hair. Jane rolled her eyes. Darcy cleared her throat. "I mean, nice to meet you, younglings," she corrected.

"Shall we go?" Maria interrupted the awkward greetings. They began walking towards where Happy would be picking them up, Maria holding Natasha's hand and Phil keeping his eye on the boys, who were walking by Jane and Darcy.

Pepper carried Clint to the car, Steve holding onto the hem of her shirt. The meetings had almost gone off without a hitch, but at the very end, Steve did something to make Clint angry. Pepper didn't know what it was, but she did know Steve didn't mean it, whatever it was. Clint shrieked and shoved Steve, who was trying to keep him in the corner where they were supposed to stay.

Clint ripped away from Steve and ran under the table. At this point, the meeting was a lost cause. Men and women in suits huffed and rolled their eyes as Clint climbed around their legs towards the exit. Just as he stood on the other side of the table, a man grabbed his shirt, yanking him away from the door. The man opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off when Clint kicked him in the shins and tried to bite his arm. He let go of the screaming Clint, who resumed his attempt to get to the exit. His escape was barred by Pepper, who had gotten to the door just in time.

Luckily for the man, Pepper was too busy to give him a piece of her mind regarding how he treated Clint.

She scooped Clint up and headed out the door, Steve in tow.

Clint was writhing and Pepper couldn't get very far with him. She ducked into a quiet hallway. Knowing that Clint was likely overwhelmed, she took out his hearing aids and tucked them into her pocket. She also found the light switch and turned it off, leaving them in a dim light. Clint's screaming had morphed into sobs, which were wracking his small body. She tried to put him down to reposition her hold on him, but he wasn't having any of that. He gripped Pepper around the neck tightly, causing her to wince as he pulled on her hair.

Pepper stood there for several minutes, and eventually Clint calmed enough for her to set him down on his feet. Up until this point, she hadn't said a word. She reached into her pocket and grabbed the hearing aids, which Clint surprisingly allowed her to put on without a fight.

"Why did you try to run away, sweetie?" she asked.

Clint didn't answer. He just looked at the wall. "Clint, you can't run away from me. It's not safe. Do you understand?" she pressed. No response. She reached for his hand so they could leave, but Clint recoiled violently, dropping to the floor with a shriek. Pepper was going to give him a moment before engaging again, but he started to bang his forehead on the ground.

"Stop! You're going to hurt yourself!" Pepper said, immediately dropping down and holding his head with her hands. He stilled, and Pepper stroked his forehead, feeling for damage. "Are you ready to go to the car?"

Clint nodded, allowing Pepper to scoop him up. He held tightly to her and they swiftly exited the building.

Once they were in the car, Pepper took several deep breaths before starting the ignition.

They arrived at the tower at the same time as Happy pulled up with everyone else.

One look at Pepper's face and Phil knew something had happened. Pepper quickly shrugged him off and focused instead on their guests. She greeted Darcy and Jane and left Phil to get the boys out of the car. Steve had tears in his eyes and Clint was sound asleep. He picked up Clint who barely registered the change in position.

Eventually, they all made it up to their level of the tower. Phil carried Clint into the bedroom and placed him under the covers, taking out his hearing aids.

It was nearly dinnertime, and Jane and Maria graciously offered to cook for them. Darcy got them all settled onto the couch and turned on the television.

Phil pulled Pepper aside. "What happened today?" Pepper took a deep breath and explained.

"Poor kid. Are you okay?" he asked. Pepper nodded. They rejoined the group. Pepper motioned for Steve to come and talk with her.

"What happened earlier, sweetie? Why did Clint push you?" she asked, realizing she'd never gotten to the bottom of what triggered the 'event'. Seeing Steve's eyes well up, she quickly assured him that he was not in trouble."

"He was trying to draw on me. I tried to get him to stop but then he stood up and I tried to stop him from running away," Steve explained. "I'm sorry." He was looking at the floor.

"You're not in trouble, honey. You don't have to be sorry," Pepper said, hugging him. Steve nodded and went back to join the others.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! I forgot how fun it is to write these kiddos. Sorry for the ridiculously long wait.

While it took Natasha a while to warm up to newcomers, this time Jane and Darcy, when she did let her guard down, she immediately attached herself to the women. Phil has a limited knowledge of Natasha's childhood, but from what he understands, truly caring mother figures were entirely lacking. It would explain why she stuck so close to the Pepper, Maria, and now Jane and Darcy.

Currently, Natasha was coloring at the table, which had been cleared from dinner. Pepper was coloring with her, and Natasha was babbling animatedly about something. Darcy sat down and joined them. All of a sudden, Natasha stopped talking, frowning.

"What's wrong, Natasha?" Pepper asked, putting down the crayon she was currently using. Natasha turned her head towards the door to the kids' bedroom. Pepper looked towards the door.

That's when she heard a faint crying. With all the chattering, both at the table and in the other room from the other kids, she hadn't noticed the crying until now. Phil looked up when he heard the silence from the kitchen. Pepper motioned to the door, and Phil stood, walking past them and into the bedroom.

Pepper followed him in quietly. "Clint, buddy. What's going on?" Phil asked. Pepper could barely make out Clint's muffled response. "Take your head out from under the blanket. I can't hear you."

Clint complied, and tearfully repeated, "I'm hung-y. I'm s-s-sorry. Can I come out?"

"Of course! Did you think you couldn't leave?"

"I wad...was bad."

"You're okay, kiddo. Nobody's mad at you. You're not in trouble. Now, let's get you some dinner," Phil said, voice tight. Pepper went back into the kitchen to get some food started.

Phil and Clint exited the room. Clint's eyes were downcast as he shuffled behind Phil. Natasha jumped out of her chair and ran up to Clint, surprising him.

"I missed you," she said, patting him on the head.

Clint smiled sheepishly and then stuck his tongue out. He noticed Darcy sitting behind Natasha and he sidestepped behind Phil.

"Clint, this is my friend Darcy. She's going to stay with us for a while. And that's Jane over there," he explains, pointing to Jane on the other side of the room.

"Is that little Hawkeye?" Darcy exclaimed. Jane rolled her eyes from the other side of the room. Phil also sighed. As lovable as Darcy was, her exuberance made him miss the calm presence of the members of the Fantastic Four.

"I'm not hawkeye. I'm C-int. Wha-s hawkeye?" Clint asked.

"Don't worry about it. It's just a nickname," Phil answered. "Pepper's making you some dinner. Why don't you sit at the table."

Darcy moved over the coloring utensils that had taken over the table. Clint crawled up onto the chair and sat down, putting his head down on the table. "Are you tired?" Darcy asked.

Clint nodded. "And hung-y". Darcy put a cheeto in front of his face that was still resting against the table. Darcy had bought a bag of Cheetos at the airport and had been surreptitiously sneaking bites.

Clint crossed his eyes to focus on the cheeto, as it was so close to his face. He quickly sat up and put it in his mouth. Darcy sneakily fed him cheetos until Pepper brought a sandwich over to Clint. Clint reached for the sandwich with orange fingers.

"What did you get into? And when?" Pepper asked, raising an eyebrow. Clint smiled at her, and the grin revealed even more evidence of the cheetos.

Pepper chuckled and sat down next to Clint.

In the other room, Jane was sitting on the floor building with legos. She had Bruce on one side and Tony on the other. Thor was sitting on the couch behind them entranced by the television which had been left on. When the show he was sucked into ended, he jumped off the back of the couch and ran into the kids' bedroom.

He returned moments later with the foam sword he had bought at the mall. He snuck up on the lego builders, and then attacked, destroying their work with the toy.

"Hey! Why'd you do that, dummy?" Tony asked. Bruce looked very angry as well, and all the adults in the room froze, waiting for the little guy to turn green. Bruce grabbed a pillow and whacked Thor over the head with it. Tony wanted a turn retaliating, so he tried to grab the pillow from Bruce, immediately regretting it when Bruce leapt towards him, pushing him off the couch and onto the floor with a thud. Just as Bruce was about to act further, Phil picked him up and carried him to another room.

Once the commotion ended, Jane looked at Thor. "Thor, that was not very nice," Jane said. Thor looked remorseful, but he was soon distracted by another pillow, this one wielded by Clint. Clint sat on Thor and started to pull his hair with one hand, and with the other he continued his assault with the throw pillow.

Maria Hill walked in. She had been on the phone with Fury, and left to get away from little ears. Without even pausing, she strode over and grabbed Clint under the arms with ease. She lugged the struggling Clint to an armchair and deposited him on the seat. He started to get up, but she pointed at him with a look that said 'stay put'.

Natasha had made her way over, but the scuffle was over before she could engage. Instead, she walked over to Clint and made him scoot over so she could sit next to him.

Phil walked back in, informed the adults that Bruce was in a time out but everything was under control, and took in the scene. Thor was sitting on the floor next to Jane, amidst the scattered legos looking remorseful and somewhat betrayed. Tony was also on the floor, right where he had fallen under the arm of the couch. He had a look of confusion on his face, clearly not quite sure what had just happened.

Clint and Natasha were stuffed into the armchair, Clint looking frustrated, fiddling with his hearing aids. Natasha kept pushing his hands down when he tried to take them out. This annoyed Clint so he kicked Natasha, only to receive a smack to the hand by the red head.

One kid was missing. Phil felt a tug on his shirt sleeve. He looked down to see Steve, who had fallen asleep reading in the corner. "What happened?" the little super soldier asked, looking concerned at the state of his friends.

"You're guess is as good as mine, kiddo," Phil answered, crossing his arms.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters in one day!

"I think it's time for the kids to each get their own space. WIth all their personalities, they need room," Pepper said, once the kids were all asleep. Jane and Darcy had been given rooms on another floor, and Maria went home for the night.

"I agree. It would be nice to be able to say 'go to your room' and actually have rooms for them to go to. Why don't you, Jane, and Darcy work on some plans. You know the layout of the tower," Phil responded. "Fury's requested I be more available for SHIELD business, so I may not be entirely helpful in this endeavor."

Pepper nodded. If Phil was going to be more busy, she was happy to have Jane and Darcy around to help. She liked them. She and Jane had bonded over how strange it is to be taking care of their romantic interests as children. It was quite a strange feeling.

The next morning, Pepper entered the kitchen expecting it to be empty. She was surprised when she saw Darcy sitting at the table with coffee. Next to her was Thor, who was happily eating poptarts. Pepper noticed that he also had a coffee cup that he was drinking out of thirstily.

"Darcy, he's too young for coffee!"

"It's not like we have to worry about it stunting his growth," Darcy answered flatly. "And besides, it's chocolate milk, creamer, and sugar."

While the sugar content of the drink was appalling, it was probably better than Thor on caffeine. Pepper just shook her head and helped herself to a cup of coffee.

"I want more poptarts," Thor stated.

"What's the magic word?" Darcy responded. Thor looked perplexed. "The magic word is 'please'."

"Please," Thor parroted.

"You can't say no to him now," Darcy said. Pepper chuckled and put two more poptarts in the toaster. When the toaster popped up, Thor grinned.

Having heard the toaster, Bruce made his way out of the bedroom.

"Good morning, Bruce," Pepper said. "What would you like for breakfast?"

Bruce yawned and sat at the table. "Poptarts, please."

One by one, the kids all slowly drifted from the bedroom. In favor of simplicity, Pepper offered them each poptarts rather than giving them a choice for breakfast.

The kids were to have a lazy day, not even changing out of their pajamas. Well, that was the intention. It quickly became clear that while adults can choose to have a relaxing day of doing nothing, kids don't see the enjoyment of that. Pepper could feel the energy radiating off of several of the boys.

"Alright, crazies," Pepper interjected to Thor, Tony, and Clint who were jumping off the back of the couch, "Let's go to the park."

Pepper, Darcy, and Jane divided and conquered as far as getting the kids ready to go. Darcy threw clothes at Clint and Thor, making them catch the articles of clothing and then put them on. They were all pretty independent when it came to getting dressed. A few only needed reminders to put shirts on the right direction.

Tying shoes was where the real challenge lay. Tony, Clint, and Bruce could do it independently. Natasha almost had it, as well as Steve. Thor had no clue. To be fair, he hadn't had much exposure to tennis shoes on asgard.

Thirty minutes later, they were headed down the stairs. They easily could have taken the elevator, but the more energy spent the better. Rather than drive, they decided to walk to a nearby park. The moment they got out the front door of the building, Clint took off.

Pepper yelled, dropping Steve's hand. Darcy ran forward and grabbed Clint by the back of his shirt. "You need to stay with us. If you run away, you wont be able to play at the park," Pepper said, firmly, but careful not to trigger a reaction. She had learned that Clint did not respond well to scolding. It usually resulted in a fight or flight response, neither of which she wanted to deal with at that exact moment.

Darcy took Clint's hand and held it tightly as they walked. Clint's jaw was set, and he was clearly brooding.

The other children all exhibited their typical reactions to one of the others getting in trouble. Natasha watched carefully, ready to swoop in and join forces with the accused. Steve watched nervously, being extra careful to make sure he was doing exactly what he was supposed to. Tony observed, poised to argue whichever side he saw fit. Thor didn't seem affected, he was more interested in everything else going on around him. Bruce was the enigma. He was very attuned to the confrontation, but held himself rigidly, pretending to tune it out.

At the park, once they were within a safe distance, all the children were permitted to run towards the playground. Clint however, had not shown he could handle that amount of freedom.

"Let go of me!" he screeched.

"Nope, my little flight risk. You ran away earlier, so now you have to hold my hand until we get there," Darcy said. She had a no-nonsense attitude, and Clint seemed to mesh well with it.

"Wassa f-ight risk?" Clint asked, still attempting to break away, but with far less gumption.

"Being a flight risk means you try to run away when it's not safe." Before Clint could respond, they had reached the playground and Darcy let go of his hand.

Pepper, Jane, and Darcy sat on the park bench where they could keep their eyes on the kids. "You've got quite a way with kids, Darcy," Pepper said, chuckling.

"You think? I don't know. They're just funny. Nothing too tricky about them," Darcy answered before jumping up and running to join the kids on the playground.

Jane laughed as Darcy raced Thor to the slide. "I think she's a natural, because she never actually grew up all the way. There's still a part of her that is pure kid," she said. Steve walked timidly up to them and waited for them to finish talking.

"Can you push me on the swing?" he asked Pepper.

"Of course, sweetie."

The remainder of the park outing was uneventful, until the very end. Tony and Thor were running along the top part of the play structure, chasing Natasha who was enjoying the game. She tripped and landed on her knees and hands, both boys freezing, awaiting her response. Much to their relief, she sprung up and turned to chase the boys back the other way. Clint, who had been hiding in the tunnel, jumped out to join the game. He collided with Thor, sending them both flying. Clint rolled away, on high alert for what was coming next. Before Thor could even say anything, Clint darted. Tony tried to stop him, because he didn't want to stop playing, but when he reached out for him, Clint shoved Tony off the play structure. He landed on his back with a thud.

Clint started to remove himself from the situation, but turned straight into Pepper's arms. She gripped his shoulders, kneeling down. "What just happened?" she asked, though she had seen it all go down.

Clint looked at her with big eyes, like a deer in headlights. Almost like a switch turning on, he snapped into action, freeing himself of her hold and booking it away from the playground. She started to chase after him, but noticed that Darcy was already on the move. As soon as she saw Darcy catch up to him and them both stop running, she turned her attention back to steve on the swing.

Clint had taken up quite a bit of everyone's attention, because of his unpredictable and risky behavior. It wasn't fair to the other kids, and she was trying to focus more on them. Having other people around was definitely helpful.

They played for a while longer before it was time to go. "Okay, boys and Natasha, let's head back!"

"NO! Just because Clint got in trouble doesn't mean we should have to leave," Tony argued. Now that she had an idea of what Tony was like as a child, she was surprised he didn't grow up to be a lawyer. He could argue until he was blue in the face. Pepper sighed.

"We're not leaving because Clint got in trouble. We're leaving because it's time to leave."

Tony argued the whole walk back. Darcy, who continued to hold Clint's hand, put her free hand around Tony's head and over his mouth. "Alright, motor-mouth. The more you argue, the more mad you make Jand and Pepper. And the more mad they are, the less they'll let us go back to the park. So hush up," she said, It worked. Tony was quiet as they got into the elevator.

It was nearly noon now, and Natasha seemed to be getting 'hangry'. 'Hangry' was a term Pepper and Phil had never heard before, but after Darcy explained it, it made complete sense. And Natasha was the queen of hangry.

Six bologna sandwiches later, the kids were surprisingly sprawled and quiet watching a movie.

Their quiet time gave Pepper and Jane time to shop on for some kids' room stuff. Within an hour, they had purchased items to furnish six bedrooms. They were going to have to remodel the floor below the one they currently inhabited to include six child-sized bedrooms and a bathroom. With Tony and Pepper's connections, that should be complete within a week.


End file.
